Immediate vs extended family:

Immediate family: Parents, children, brothers/sisters, wife/husband.

Extended family:Grandparents, grandchildren uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews, cousins.

If your parents are not married anymore, and they have remarried other people, these people are your stepmom or stepdad. Your stepmom/stepdads children are you stepbrothers or stepsisters.

Explaining how many people are in your family:

There are ___ people in my immediate family.

I come from a largehousehold.(There was many people who lived in my house growing up).

Example question: How big is your family?

 “I come from a very large household. There are 6 people in my immediate family. My dad, stepmom, two sisters, one stepsister, and me. My extended family is huge. I have four uncles and four aunts, ten cousins, and two grandparents.”

Some common expressions when talking about similarities within your family:

Like father, like son.– When a father and son share some similarities.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree– When a child shares a similar quality to his or her parents.

To run in the family– Some quality, behavior, or skill that is shared by family members.

Black sheep– Someone who is odd or unlike other family members or has behavior that the rest of the family disapproves of.

Example question: Is your family very similar to each other, or different?

“My family and I share many similarities. My sisters, my dad, and I are very similar. We laugh at all the same jokes and we are all very interested in business. I guess our interests and humor runs in the family. People sometimes say that I look like my dad when I he was young. My dad always responds by saying: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Common expressions when talking about your families’ relationship with each other:

To get along with– Each person in the family likes/works well with, and has a good relationship

One big happy family– A group of people (often a family) get along and work well with each other. Often used sarcastically.

To have a falling out– To have a disagreement or argument that ruins the relationship

Bad blood– There is anger or hate towards each other due to something that happened in the past

Example question: Does your family get along with each other?

“My family and I have a very good relationship. However, my mom and my uncle had a falling out last Christmas. Now there is bad blood between them, and they are not talking to each other.”

Nouns:

• Device: An object or machine made for a certain purpose. (synonyms: machine, gadget)

“My teacher doesn’t allow any devices in the classroom including cell phones and laptops.”

• Breakthrough: an important discovery that helps improve a situation or answer a question (Synonyms: discovery, findings)

“The invention of the lightbulb had to have been one of the biggest breakthroughs of all time.”

• Progress: Movement to an improved or developed state

“Scientists have made lots of progress on cancer research, but there is still much to be done before cancer will be cured for good.”

• Social media: Apps or websites (such as Facebook, twitter, Instagram) that allow people to share content.

“Social media

Adjectives:

• Viral: To become very popular, quickly on the internet

“The music video Gangman Style was the most viral video of all time!”

• Intuitive: Simple to understand

“I like iPhone more than android because it’s software is easy to understand.”

• Cutting-edge: Very modern

“The new Falcon Rocket from Tesla is cutting-edge.”

• Obsolete: Not in use any more, having been replaced by something better.

“Cellphones have made home phones obsolete.”

• Revolutionary: Involving or causing a complete or dramatic change.

“The most revolutionary discovery of the past 100 years has to be the invention of the internet.”

Verbs:

• browse/surf websites: to look at websites

“I often surf the web when I am supposed to be studying.”

• upgrade: to obtain a more powerful or feature-rich computer or piece of software

“I just upgraded from the iPhone 7 to the iPhone 10.”

• Download: To save a file from the internet

“Before traveling I always download all the episodes of my favourite T.V show onto my laptop.”

• Develop: to change into a more advanced or stronger form

“This website was designed to develop your English Language skills”

• Go online: to get on to the internet

“In my free time I often go online”

• Log in: Entering a username or password to gain access to a computer system, network, mobile device, or user account.

“You need a password to log in to my computer, and I am not giving it to you.”

Here are some example questions and answers asked on the IELTS speaking exam. 

"Where do you come from?"

I am from a small island called Salt Spring in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of many islands off the west coast of Canada. It is near Vancouver, Seattle, and British Columbia’s capital Victoria.

"What is it like where you live?"  

"There are no chain restaurants like McDonalds or Starbucks, or even traffic lights for cars. Only about ten thousand people live there, though in the summer months the population doubles to twenty thousand. Salt spring island is a popular tourist destination. In the summer, there are many tourists that come to Salt Spring island to escape their busy city lifestyles and enjoy the slow pace of a small town."

"Did you enjoy living there?"

Most of the time I loved living there. The people are very friendly, and I have many friends to see and get together with. I like the mild weather as well. It does not get as cold or hot as the rest of Canada. In the summer it is mostly sunny and around 25 degrees, and I like that I can spend most of my time outside." 

"What is there to do where you live?"

 "There are a lot of outdoor activities to do where I live. I enjoy hiking and camping with my friends. In the summer, we often go camping next to a lake where we go swimming. My absolute favorite thing to do in my hometown is go boating. My friends and I take my boat to amazing beaches to have barbeques and play sports like soccer in the sand. We go fishing too, but usually do not catch any fish." 

"What do you not like about your home town?"

"One thing I do not like about my hometown is the winter. It rains a lot, and can get cold enough to snow. But mostly it rains. It makes it impossible to outdoors activates that I love to do during the summer. There are also no tourists in the winter, and it can be very quiet on Salt Spring. There is not much to do but be indoors. I often get bored."

Also, be ready for the examiner to ask you some of the following question phrases. Make sure you fully understand these phrases so you can properly answer the examiners questions. It is very likely that some of these phrases may be in your exams.

“Describe”

Ex.“Describe the most influential person in your life.”

Answer: “The most influential person in my life is my dad. He is a very intelligent, kind, outgoing, and creative person. He is always busy helping others, and I really admire that.”

“Would you say that”

Would you say that is common follow-up question.

Ex. “Would you say that this person has changed your life.”

Answer: “I would say that my father has changed my life a lot. He has provided me so much guidance with how to navigate through life. I would not be the same person without him.”

“Could you explain more?”

When your examiner wants more information from you, he/she will commonly use this phrase.

Ex. “Could you explain more on how your dad has influence your life?”

Answer: “Well, my dad has accomplished so many things. He is very driven in his job and helping family. He has helped me get into university, has guided me through life, and given advice on how to accomplish my career goals.

I encourage you to practice listening and answering these question phrases to help get yourself better prepared for the exam! Good luck on your exam!

Using linking words can help you extend your answers.

Some common linking words for adding information are:

Some common linking words for adding information:

1. In addition to
2. Also
3. Moreover

Say the examiner gave use the question: Describe a period of time from your studies that was the most difficult for you so far?

“The hardest period of time from my studies is when I had university exams last spring. In additionto having 4 exams, I also had to work a job. Moreover, I was very sick, and had to go to the hospital.”

 Some more linking words:

4. Further
5. Besides
6. Additionally

 “The hardest time in my studies so far is when I had a biology exam. The material covered was very difficult. Further, it was a very long test, and we were only given two hours to complete it. Besides my biology exam, my neuroscience exam was also very challenging. We had to write a long assay on the brain. Additionally, we had diagnosis a person with a brain injury.

Linking words for adding an example:

1. For example
2. For instance
3. In particular

“The hardest period of time from my studies was last spring. There was one week in particular when I had many difficult projects to finish at the same time. For instance, I had a 2000-word essay and presentation due on the same day! The essay was very complicated. I had to talk about many new areas in biology. For example, I had to write about the new stem cell research being done in Columbia.”

I recommend you practice using all of these words in preparing for your IELTS test. They will help you organize your thoughts and make it easier for your examiner to follow what you are saying.

Good luck and happy studying!

 To expand your answers try using opinion phrases:

1. In my opinion

“In my opinion,many people in my country are too lazy to exercise.

2. I believe

“I believe that the obesity problem in my country could be solved if everyone in my country did more exercise.”

3. I would argue

“People in my country do not exercise enough. I would argue that the government needs to build more exercise facilities in schools and communities.”

4. My impression is that

“My impression is that my country does not do nearly enough exercise”

5. It seems to me that

“People in my country do not exercise much. Obesity is a real problem in my country. It seems to me that if people did more exercise then obesity would not be as big of an issue.  benefits of exercise.